August flowers

Recon mission

We walked out along the train tracks to see what kind of building DNREC is up to in the marsh.

Viceroy (smaller than a monarch)

The old electric box for the train

A closer view of the osprey nest

Green frog at one of the frog ponds out in the marsh

The first frog's cousin Bob

One of the trees DNREC planted...maybe we'll be back in fifty years and see it huge!

When the gates open again, this will all be underwater.

Nice black gum tree...likes lots of water

Leaves of a black locust tree

Train going by; DEEC is tiny square in the distance.

Butter-and-eggs, in the snapdragon family

Looking for ferns, finding the kitchen sink

Beetles on blackberries

This snake was basking near the bridge.

I think this is a kind of coral fungus.

  

Moss with spores

Closeup of spores

  

A tiny mushroom with a velvety cap. Not sure what kind.

This looks like a teeny oak apple gall, but it also seemed lodged in the log, so maybe it's some kind of fungus.

A nice stand of monotropa uniflora

Blue stump

 

Puffball mushroom--I can't begin to figure out what genus and species!

THE FERNS:

 

 

  

  

Nature Conservancy Preserve

This morning, we went for a walk at the Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve, operated by the Nature Conservancy.
You can see a little how the preserve contains different ecosystems...you start out in the swamp, then climb into the forest, then come out onto a sandy hillside with pines...then back into the woods.

Lots of algae and many biting insects, plus frogs hiding under the green

I don't yet know what this is.

An interesting bright yellow fungus with tiny, shiny black bugs (beetles) on it

Sandy hillside with pines

I thought maybe this was a salt-loving fern, but Wikipedia says the word "bracken" just comes from an
Old Norse word for fern.

Sassafras tree

A mushroom with a red top--not sure what kind

Growths I saw last year at Lums Pond

Blueberries

Myrtle